


Commencement

by Catsmeow



Series: Small Boy, Big City [2]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Drama, Gen, Young Daniel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-16
Updated: 2009-12-16
Packaged: 2017-10-04 11:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catsmeow/pseuds/Catsmeow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel knows what he wants to be when he grows up and he's determined to make it happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Commencement

**Author's Note:**

> Second in the series. This story is about Daniel during his youth with his foster parents. Originally written February 2007.

Daniel never thought he would actually _want_ it to snow. It had already been two weeks since he ordered that book from Brentano's. No snow meant no earning extra money shoveling walks which meant that it would be _another_ two weeks before he had enough money to pick up the book. Of course, he would have had enough money if he hadn't bought Humphrey in the first place. But one look at the little stuffed toy camel, and Daniel just had to have him. Even though it meant waiting that much longer for the book, Daniel wasn't sorry he'd done it. He kept the camel with him all the time, hiding him from his foster mother who would want to know how he got it and from his older classmates who would tease him for having it.

He looked around at those classmates now. They were quiet, heads down, pencils scratching across paper as they tried to answer all the questions in the history test before time ran out. Daniel had already finished his test and turned it in. Now he was working on an extra project that the teacher, Mr. Hucknall, had given him. Well, he was _trying_ to work on it. Daniel sighed and looked out the window again. The clouds that covered the sky looked darker than before. Today was Friday and if it snowed tonight he would have two days to earn money shoveling sidewalks.

He sighed again and flicked his gaze back to the book on the Roman Empire that Mr. Hucknall had given him for the project. Briefly he wondered if two thousand years ago some little boy just like him had shoveled sidewalks somewhere in the Roman Empire. What did the boy look like? What did he wear? What did he eat? How did he live? Growing up on excavations in Egypt with his archeologist parents had given him a curiosity about the past. In history class, the teacher talked about civilizations as though each was one big entity. But Daniel knew that civilizations were made up of individual people – people who lived, laughed, loved then died, leaving their things behind for others to find and wonder over.

His true mom always said that people were the smallest particles of history. She would show him a bit of jewelry or pottery or something that had just been dug up. Putting it in his hand she would say, "The last person to touch this walked the earth almost 3,000 years ago. Even though he dressed differently than you do and spoke differently, he was still a person with the same hopes and dreams as you. History is made by people who just want to live their lives and along the way, things happen. Always remember that." Maybe someday some other archeologist would find something of his parents' and understand that a thousand years ago the people Daniel loved had lived and laughed and loved him back before they died.

~~~   
Breathing heavily, Daniel rested his forehead against the handle of the snow shovel. He was sweating despite the frigid air so his glasses kept slipping down his nose. Pushing them back up yet again, he unzipped his coat halfway. For once, the 'growing room' that his foster mother insisted on came in handy. Without the cold wind blowing up inside his jacket, he would have overheated earlier. He watched his breath puff out in little clouds wishing he could have Humphrey with him for some company. Too bad the camel got in the way of his arm movements.

"Daniel?"

Daniel looked up in surprise. He hadn't noticed his foster mother approaching. Wearing slacks in deference to the cold, she had a pink crochet hat pulled over her light brown hair. Her galoshes weren't fastened and she was holding her coat closed. He watched her walk across the street from their house.

"Daniel, why don't you come in now." She made the questioning words into a statement.

"But I'm not finished yet." Uh-oh. He couldn't stop now. If he didn't finish, old Mrs. Larrabee wouldn't have to pay him.

"You can finish it tomorrow. Come inside and get warm."

"I told Mrs. Larrabee I'd do it today, Sally." It felt odd to call a grown-up by a first name, but Daniel couldn't bear to use any form of the word "mother" and "Mrs. Anderson" was too formal.

"I'm sure she'll understand, honey. You've been outside a long time. You need to rest up and get warm."

"But what if it snows again tonight? Then I'll have to do it all over again because I didn't shovel everything like I said I would." It was hard enough doing all this work the first time. There was no way he wanted to have to do it all again tomorrow, especially if he wouldn't get paid twice.

"Daniel – "

"Besides I'm almost done. See?" He pointed for emphasis. "Just this bit here and the three steps and that's it." She had to say yes. If he had counted right, this job would give him enough to get the book.

Sally gave him a considering look.

"It'll just take me a few more minutes." Daniel looked intently at her face. Was she wavering? He repeated himself, "Really. Just a few more minutes and then I'll be done." He gave her his best, big-eyed, please-believe-me look.

She sighed. "Okay. But if you aren't inside in 15 minutes, I'm coming to get you whether you are finished or not," she said firmly.

"Yes, ma'am."

She put her hand on his shoulder, smiling at him. "When you come in I'll have some hot chocolate waiting for you."

"Thank you, Sally." He eased his shoulder down away from her hand, not wanting the familiarity. He tried to be subtle, but when her smile faltered he knew she realized what he had done.

Dropping her hand back to her side she said, "Remember, fifteen minutes." Turning, she walked back to the house, head down, moving more slowly than when she had come out.

Daniel felt guilty for keeping her and Mr. Anderson at arm's length when they had been so kind to him, but somehow accepting them as his new parents felt like betraying his true parents. Thinking about it made him feel confused in a bad way so he called Mrs. Anderson "Sally" and Mr. Anderson "Cliff" and tried not to think about why.

Daniel cast an appraising eye at the amount he had left to do. He should be able to finish up and collect his money from Mrs. Larrabee before the deadline. After zipping his coat back up, he gripped his shovel and got to work.

~~~

Fourteen minutes later, Daniel walked in the door of his house with Mrs. Larrabee's money weighing down his pants pocket. He pulled his boots off, careful to stay on the rubber mat Sally put out every winter. He had to fish his left shoe out of the boot, jamming it back on his chilly foot without bothering to tie the laces. Opening the door to the little closet in the foyer, he set the boots on the floor next to her galoshes. Stretching as tall as he could, he was able to snag a hanger and put away his coat.

"Daniel? Is that you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

He draped his wet gloves over the top of the boots so that they could dry then shut the closet door. He looked at his hands. The fingers were red with cold. Blisters adorned the base of each index finger and thumb. They didn't hurt too much yet, but he knew from experience that once his hands warmed up the blisters would sting. He had to be careful not to let the Andersons see them.

"Come to the kitchen for your hot chocolate."

"Be right there," he said, shutting the closet door and heading down the hall.

He could smell something besides hot chocolate, but wasn't sure what it was. When he walked into the kitchen, Sally was at the stove. She had her back to him, flipping something in a pan. On the counter next to her was a mug. Smiling at him over her shoulder, she pointed at the mug with a spatula. Her eyes looked a little pink. "Chocolate's right there. I thought you might be hungry so I made us grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. It should be ready in a couple of minutes."

He felt bad about hurting her feelings earlier, but didn't know how to make up for it. Maybe if he could help out… "Do you need me to set the table?"

"Already done."

"Oh." Taking the mug from the counter, Daniel wrapped his hands around it, letting the heat soak into his fingers. The first few sips slid down deliciously, warming him up all over. His stomach grumbled and he suddenly realized that he was very hungry. "Do we have to wait for Cliff?"

"No. He phoned while you were out. He's got to go to another call after the one he's on but he should be home for dinner."

"Oh." Daniel was relieved they didn't have to wait. He was getting hungrier by the second. "I never knew plumbers were so busy."

"Well, at least the company only has him on call one weekend a month." She set the spatula down and stirred a pot at the back of the stove. "If you put your hot chocolate on the table you can help me bring the plates out once I dish up."

Tomato soup and grilled cheese turned out to be the perfect post-shoveling meal. It was tasty and filling though Daniel had to be careful how he moved his hands. The last thing he needed was for Sally to see his blisters. He provided most of the conversation as he shared the information he had been learning about the Roman Empire. Sally seemed interested, asking questions and encouraging him to continue. Once the meal was finished, he cleared the table before going to his room. Sally was busy washing up so Daniel took the opportunity to go to his special hiding place.

As quietly as he could, he brought the chair from his desk over to the closet in his room. The chair was always awkward to move, but wasn't usually heavy. Today, though, his arms were already tired and sore from shoveling so the chair seemed to weigh more than he did. Twice he had to set it down and rest a minute before wrestling it into place. Climbing up on it, he still had to stand on tiptoe to reach all the way back to the far left corner of the shelf across the top of the closet. Reaching behind the boxes Sally had stored up there, he pulled out a crumpled paper bag.

Stepping carefully off of the chair, he carried the bag over to his bed. He peeled back the spread just enough to reach under the pillow for Humphrey. Once he had Humphrey settled where he would have the best view, Daniel upended the bag on the bedspread. A variety of coins mixed with a couple of bills flooded out. He picked out a scrap of paper with a figure written on it and showed it to the camel.

"See? That's how much we needed." He flipped the paper over to show a series of numbers, all but one of which was crossed out. "And that's how much is in the bag. And look!"

Daniel pulled a wad of money from his pants pocket. Sorting the coins into neat stacks, he slowly counted them so that Humphrey could see how much Mrs. Larrabee had given him.

"Guess what?" he said excitedly. "Mrs. Larrabee gave me extra because I did such a good job. She called it a tip for good service." Daniel could tell that Humphrey was proud of him.

"You can get the handkerchief, Humphrey."

He carried the toy over to the dresser. Pulling the top drawer open he rummaged through it with one hand while holding Humphrey in the drawer with the other. When he found the hankie he draped it over the camel's back and returned to the bed. Smoothing it open next to the pile of money, he took a moment to look at it.

Much smaller than a bandana and of a lighter fabric, the hankie had a white background. The edges were scalloped. Each side was decorated with a garden of green leaves topped by pink and red heart shaped flowers. It was his mother's. He had been sneezing that day so she let him use it. It was still in his pocket when – Daniel stopped and resolutely shoved that memory away, concentrating on the hankie itself, not why he still had it. He gently ran his fingertips over it, recalling how it still had her scent on it for days afterwards. Eventually, the caretaker at the orphanage had found it and washed it. Even though the lady gave it back to him, it wasn't the same anymore. It smelled like all his other clothing with nothing left of his mother, Claire. It was still special though. He tried to use it whenever he could. That way, if she was looking down on him from somewhere in heaven, she would know that he still thought of her every day.

Daniel gave the hankie one last loving stroke, then counted out the exact amount he would need to get the book from Brentano's. He recounted several times to be sure he had it right, then placed the money in the center of the hankie and tied the diagonal corners together tightly. Placing everything back into the paper bag, he put it back in the closet and returned the chair to his desk.

"Want to hear more about the Roman Empire, Humphrey?" he asked the camel. "You do? Good!"

Pulling his backpack out from beside the desk, he pulled out a book and set it on the desk. Holding Humphrey in his left hand, he flipped through the book with his right. "Where did we leave off?"

Humphrey moved in to touch his nose to a page.

"That's right! I'm glad you remembered because I didn't."

Humphrey stepped on a picture.

"I like that picture too. That's the Baths of Caracalla. Pretty neat, huh? Cliff might like to hear about those, and maybe about the toilets too. What do you think?"

Humphrey nodded. Daniel nodded back. His foster father was nice, but they didn't seem to have much in common. Daniel wasn't interested in sports, and Cliff wasn't interested in Egyptian history. Maybe at dinner, he and Cliff could talk man to man about the plumbing in ancient Rome.

Chattering happily, Daniel and Humphrey settled in for a companionable afternoon.

~~~

Daniel shivered slightly as he walked through the aisles at Brentano's, dodging the other customers. He held the straps of his pack making sure he didn't accidentally hit anyone with it. It always took a few minutes for the warmth indoors to soak into his skin. At least his glasses had cleared already.

"If that's Daniel, this must be Thursday."

Daniel stopped and went back a few steps, smiling at the teasing voice. Miss Hudson was down one of the side aisles and had seen him pass by.

"Hi, Miss Hudson!" Daniel beamed at her. "Guess what I have!" he said, bouncing slightly on his toes.

She filed away the two books she had been holding. "Ummmmm…new sneakers?" she asked, playing along.

"Nope! Guess again!"

"Ummmmm….a new car?"

"Nope!"

"An antique octogenarian aardvark from Ardmore?"

Daniel laughed. "No, silly! I have the money I owe you for the book!"

"What a coincidence! It just so happens that I have that book you ordered."

Together they walked to the special order counter at the rear of the store. Daniel unzipped his coat and took Humphrey out of the inner pocket. Setting the camel on the counter, he reached into the pocket again and retrieved the handkerchief full of cash. In just a few short minutes, Miss Hudson had the transaction all rung up in the register and set the book on the counter for Daniel to see.

"Egyptian Grammar: Being a Study of Hieroglyphics" by Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner. Daniel reread the title several times, before slowly reaching up and reverently touching the cover. It was hard to believe that it was here. After all this time, all the waiting, all the extra work, he finally had it. Wide-eyed, he looked up at Miss Hudson and breathlessly thanked her.

She seemed amused by his reaction. "Don't thank me, Daniel. All I did was order it. You're the one who made it happen."

With a little help from Miss Hudson, he soon had the large book stowed away in his backpack. Thanking her once again, he headed out. This was more than just a book. This was Daniel's first step toward becoming an archeologist like his parents. He would study on his own if he had to, but he would never give up. One day, he'd go back to Egypt and work on excavations just like they did. He would carry on for them doing the work they never had the chance to do.

Nestled inside his jacket, Humphrey approved.

FINIS


End file.
